No. 4 UCLA Battles Past No. 5 Pepperdine, 9-6

Men's Water Polo

No. 4 UCLA Battles Past No. 5 Pepperdine, 9-6

MALIBU, Calif. – A closely fought game between the No. 5 Pepperdine men’s water polo team and No. 4 UCLA ended in a 9-6 victory for the Bruins on Saturday.

The Bruins (17-5, 3-2) jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the first period with a 6-on-5 goal by Griffin White at 6:18 followed by a shot in the net by Ben Hohl. Another extra-man opportunity by Cullen Hennessey gave UCLA its third goal of the period. Josh Samuels scored the fourth goal for the Bruins on a five-meter penalty shot. With one second remaining in the period, JP MacDonell (Redwood City, Bellarmine HS) shot the first goal for the Waves (8-10, 1-4) ending the period with the Bruins up 4-1.

MacDonell opened the second period with a penalty goal for the Waves at 7:12 followed by man-up opportunity by Taylor Watson (Alamo, Calif./Monte Vista HS) to make the score 4-3 at the half.

Scott Swanson scored back-to-back goals on six-on five opportunities for the Bruins early in the third period to give UCLA a three point lead at 6-3. With 2:30 left in the period Brett Auer (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport HS) scored the Waves only goal of the period and Pepperdine trailed by two at 6-4.

The Waves fought back in the fourth period after early back-to-back goals by UCLA’s Cole Consani and Josh Samuels. Watson scored on a man-up opportunity with 4:51 remaining in the game. The Bruins answered with a goal by Griffin White on another extra-man opportunity at 3:24. Pepperdine’s Clayton Snyder (Seal Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos HS) scored the final goal of the game at 3:01, however it wasn’t enough to close the gap and UCLA was up 9-6 when the buzzer sounded.

Next up, the Waves host Pacific on Nov. 7 at 11 a.m., at the Raleigh-Runnels Memorial Pool.